Maleficent Teases...
Wednesday, November 13, 2013 at 8:52PM We'll save the Yes No Maybe So-ing for a full trailer, but Disney is now teasing Maleficent, their Spring 2014 blockbuster hopeful, with a Pfeifferesque Pfirst Poster and a new teaser which gives us our first taste of...
Well, if not the movie itself than its...
...Production Design which looks blissfully minimalist. Or as minimalists as blockbusters get these days. All the darkness help. Maybe they'll goose up the colors in post to make it as garish as it wants to be (god help us all) but for now they've decided to just go with a few sensible colors per frame rather than every color and the pukiest shades of each per frame that they went for in Eyesore in Wonderland.
Rather obnoxiously Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland won the Oscar for art direction for Robert Stromberg. Rather surprisingly he's now the director of Maleficent and the movie looks kind of beautiful instead of hideous. MIRACLES! I guess we really can blame Tim Burton.
...Youngest co-star (Baby Pitt-Jolie in her acting debut!) who runs across the screen many years before pricking her teenage finger and passing out until her first kiss.
gif via popnography...the Costumes and Make Up of the leads though why they though they needed to enhance Angelina Jolie's hypnotic eyes and shockingly gorgeous/alien bone structure is beyond me. The poster was very Pfeiffer but this bit in the trailer is very Charlize Theron as Queen Ravenna.
In conclusion: totally hot for this.
The only things that give me great pause are two: First, the fairie designs. HATEFUL! Why do they look like cgi mermaids? Second, the title design...
It looks like it's trying to make you think of Tim Burton (STOP IT. I DON'T WANNA) what with its crooked assembly of a particular font. But hopefully this titular witch casts a fresh spell rather than that dusty old magic.
The Tease
Are you afraid
...of how this movie is going to turn out? Or are you cautiously optimistic?
Reader Comments (13)
I do love me some Jolie, but there is a bit of fatigue over re-imagined fairy tales and this trailer has a disturbing likeness to Snow White and the Huntsman in tone and visuals. If the idea was fresh, I would probably love it.
Interesting, because the first thing I thought was "Eyesore in Wonderland" - and only Jolie's performance really makes me excited to see the film.
Is this a "re-imagined fairy tale" though, or just the story of a character that didn't get an entire film about herself?
I love the character but Jolie is such a boring actor. I fell asleep watching the trailer.
I am optimistic. No reason other than that I want it to be good because I care about the fairy-tale genre and I have affection for Linda Woolverton who wrote the script for Beauty and the Beast.
What I saw in the trailer was promising.
I am not sure about the aesthetic but the I really liked the whole conversation between Briar Rose and Maleficent shown. Felt more of the DNA of the animated movie/fairy tale than say, Alice.
Snow White and the Huntsman had many problems, but not the visuals. Greig Fraser's cinematography was gorgeous. I wish those aesthetic touches were applied in what I saw here.
Yeah. I wish Pfeiffer or Miranda Richardson (who is actually in the film!) had gotten the part.
I almost wish they went even darker visually like the Snow White/Charlize movie did. But it is Disney, so I guess they can't freak out too many little kids.
The main problem with "snow white and the huntsman", which I didnt bother to see, is that They wanted the audience to believe that kirsten stewart was prettier than Chatlize.
got excited only because the final images with the trees made me think of the disney animated movie.
(what's up with elle's line delivery/'accent'?)
i agree with @Henry
I've always thought that Jolie had a very limited voice (like Sandy Bullock), but I just LOVE her line readings here, the tinged accent, the ghoulish laugh. And I appreciate the decision to lean into the animated film rather than away from it. Count me in for now.
I am in!